Note 10 — Chapter I · FROM CHʽANG-GAN TO THE SANDY DESERT.
James Legge translation
Dâna is the name for religious charity, the first of the six pâramitâs, or means of attaining to nirvâṇa; and a dânapati is ‘one who practises dâna and thereby crosses (越) the sea of misery.’ It is given as ‘a title of honour to all who support the cause of Buddhism by acts of charity, especially to founders and patrons of monasteries;’—see Eitel, p. 29.